Gilbert Gottfried Is Dead To Me

Wow! I was just watching the Bob Saget roast the other day. He was in it. Weird.

Wow, I didn't see that coming!

He posted this picture three months ago and since he had a long illness, he knew he'd be joining them.

Sad.

Oh wow. Sad.

Since this is Gottfried, I should have posted @ R2:

[bold]WOW, I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING!!!![/bold]

I didn't know he was sick

well. you ain't his doctor.

Very, very sad news. I LOVED Gilbert’s podcasts with Frank and his roast appearances. He was hilarious on the podcasts and I’ll miss him so much.

I can’t believe another comedian is dead - Bob Saget, Louie Anderson, Norm MacDonald…there are others I can’t think of right now.

My sympathies to Dara, Max and Lily.

Nothing against the guy personally but hearing his voice was torture

I also loved his podcast. There was one where he went on a long rant about Bob Hope and how awful and unfunny Hope was, and he was hilarious ripping him to shreds.

Ze second-best Dracula.

[quote] he went on a long rant about Bob Hope and how awful and unfunny Hope was, and he was hilarious ripping him to shreds.

Well he’s now on The Road to Hell to join Robin Williams.

Oh Fuck!!!!!!!! This one hurts bad! I too loved his podcast. He was hilarious.😢😢😢💔💔💔

Sad news. Isn’t it that celebrity deaths happen in threes? He was a great comedian with one of the most distinct voices ever.

Damn. RIP. Thanks for the laughs.

This made me cry a bit. I know everyone is going to write in saying how irritating he was, but I loved the guy.

I don't know much about him, but was he an asshole like most comedians? He was friends with that horribly unfunny prick Norm MacDonald after all.

Gilbert shares the Cesar Romero rumour that he delighted in retelling on his podcasts.

NO. I gasped when I saw this. His podcast was hilarious. He never failed to bring up the Danny Thomas glass coffee table story, or Milton Berle's giant dick, or Marlon Brando fucking Richard Pryor, or Paul Lynde's "It smells like a cunt in here ... I think" quote. I'll miss him and his, um, distinct voice.

Oh please. He was annoying and unfunny and now you all are crying like he owed you money. He was awful.

He could be very funny. That stupid voice he did was really hard to take though (and it was a total put-on).

Please go away, R21.

It is a very plum plum.

Aww, that's too bad. I love his podcast. "Authur Godfrey, now, he was a real Jew hater"

RIP. I wasn’t a huge fan, but I did find him funny in some things.

Second only to George Takei in classic appearances on The Howard Stern Show.

Like Saget, he was a part of my childhood due to his voice overs in cartoons (most notably Aladdin).

Aw man. I loved him. Rest in laughs, GG.

GOOD RIDDANCE! He wasn't relevant anymore, anyway.

Never found him funny but I like his podcast...mostly because I like his co-host.

First clip I searched out

He died from MS according to Variety.

This is one of Gilbert's many riffs about Bob Hope, when Hope was 200 years old and totally senile and they were still dragging him out to film his awful NBC specials. Funny!

I'll sit this right here. The jokes were homophobic but dare I say.....hilarious.

R33 thank you for that, I've got tears from laughing.

His podcast was such a treasure if you were at all an old school comedy-hollywood-pop culture geek. And yeah, his jokes were RAW, including the gay ones, but two of his best friends were Mario Cantone and Louis Anderson - both 'mos.

His pokes, as it were, at his gay friends was from a place of love.

Ugh. What a sad, dark day in general.

Saw this now.

It’s Putin! Putin is killing America’s great comedians. I can’t prove it, but I know it’s true.

His real voice was actually very mellow.

I was so shocked by this that I let out a really loud, sharp gasp. Not quite Diana death scream, but it would have been embarrassing if someone else was around. RIP Gilbert.

I liked him in problem child. 🤷‍♂️. RIP little man

Was it consumption?

“Doctor Huxtable!” Lol this is a bummer because to me he represents in pc humor that is rare these days

The Aristocrats!

Indeed, Gilbert's podcast was one of the best and I hope Frank somehow keeps it going.

Gilbert was also an excellent impressionist, his Peter Lorre, James Mason, Groucho, etc. impressions were superb.

He suffered from an inherited form of dystrophy that caused his heart to beat irregularly.

[quote] Was it consumption?

No Rose, it was the bubonic plague.

Prediction for the next two celebrity deaths-Kate McKinnon and Sarah Silverman.

He was an aristocrat of comedy. Bad news. Well, I guess more for him and his.

Loved his story about a scene (on Seinfeld?) where he was supposed to run and they kept asking him to do it differently. The director finally had to be more direct: “Can you run less Jewish?”

He's another guy who had kids late in life.

Cause of death

Gottfried’s representative, Glenn Schwartz, has since shared that the actor succumbed to a heart abnormality called recurrent ventricular tachycardia, an arrhythmia caused by myotonic dystrophy Type 2.

Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is a genetic disorder marked by progressive muscle wasting and weakness which predominantly affects the limbs and face but can create increasingly dire complications for respiratory, skeletal and cardiac muscles.

People with DM are at a higher risk of irregular heartbeat, including ventricular tachycardia, an arrhythmia in the lower chambers of the heart (ventricles) that causes the heart to beat faster. A sustained sped-up rhythm can cause a fatal drop in blood pressure.

Heaven has a new comedian angel.

Iago and Genie together again on the other side.

Early reports say he had just seen a production of Beanie Funny Girl.

Love his podcast. The annual Christmas episodes with Mario Cantone are fucking hilarious.

[quote]Gottfried died from recurrent ventricular tachycardia due to myotonic dystrophy type II, a disorder that affects the heart, according to a statement by his publicist and longtime friend Glenn Schwartz to the Associated Press.

Hilarious

[quote]“Doctor Huxtable!”

I could never get past the voice.

[quote]Heaven has a new comedian angel.

I'm going to needlepoint that on three or four throw-pillows, hun.

[quote]Comedian Gilbert Gottfried unveils his understated off-stage persona, and [bold]his real voice[/bold], in the revealing new trailer for Neil Berkeley’s upcoming documentary Gilbert.

I never thought he was the least bit funny, but he seemed like a decent person. I'm assuming the "long illness" was cancer of some sort.

RIP to a true comedian.

After this fucking day, reading his wife’s message made me cry a little. I’ll laugh tomorrow.

What he came up with at the Joan Rivers Roast was wonderfully creative and filthy as hell. I love it and almost passed out from laughing so very hard the first time I saw it at the Joan Rivers Roast.

He was unstoppable in his comedy and quite the force. His podcast showed that he had a very well rounded intellect.

I liked him. Cancel culture might not but they don't understand humor. Gilbert had a nice documentary come out a few years back and his wife and children and sister seemed to adore him. His children most especially and wee children never lie you know.

He brought a lot of people a lit of laughter. Bless him.

LMAO r60! Thanks for posting that

I had forgotten about his stint on SNL.

He really used his unique act and voice and did really well with it for quite some time, in several different areas. Comedy act, movie and tv parts, voice over work and a popular podcast. Seemed to be liked and admired by his co-workers too.

RIP Gilbert.

I had no idea he had muscular dystrophy.

R68, in my mind I always refer to that as "The furiously masturbating Tom Arnold routine."

He had a hot ass, but he couldn't live forever.

The podcast was one of the most reliably entertaining ones out there. I could listen to the Bruce VIllanche episode over and over.

It shouldn’t have, but it surprised me to learn that that wasn’t his real voice.

I saw a clip somewhere on YouTube years ago of him on Letterman back in the 80s. He really didn't do the annoying voice, but did some impersonations.

That voice that he adopted must have been hell on his vocal cords.

"vocal cords"

Oh, dear.

Why the "Oh, dear"? You think it should be "vocal chords," R79?

r79

Cord = long, flexible string or rope.

Chord = a group of 3 or more musical notes played simultaneously.

Arpeggio = 3 notes of a chord played separately.

* Note that an arpeggio doesn't necessarily have to be limited to 3 notes.

r81 should've been raped by Bob Hope.

Not funny at all. Neurotic. Mean.

Rest in "peace"?? In PEACE? Not this man.

Cord = the original Batmobile

The fake voice got old pretty quickly. But he certainly made it go a long way.

I've been around a long time and during much of the last 30 years orbso he's been in the background of my life. On Stern, etc. And I always perked up my ears if I heard the voice because he was funny. Irreverent.

So yesterday, the day of the Brooklyn subway shooting, and I live in Brooklyn, I paid attention to this and was a little sad.

That's a terrible disease to have btw.

His podcast was a treasure for fans of old showbiz gossip. I hope his sweet cohost, Frank Santopadre, keeps it going as a solo act. Frank was just as good as Gil and loves the gay guests and audience.

I almost had to pull over the car on the Gilbert podcast when Sally Struthers referred to Rita Moreno as "Miss Coozeburger."

[quote] His podcast was a treasure for fans of old showbiz gossip

I’m sorry I missed it.

.,.,

[quote]I’m sorry I missed it.

It's not like it suddenly disappeared from the internet, R90.

The last episode posted was put up on the 11th.

I couldn’t stand him.

R88 What was the disease, exactly?

I didn't know anything about myotonic dystrophy or how it could kill someone relatively quickly -- Gottfried's last podcast was just uploaded a couple of days ago -- and I found this, which probably explains it.

[quote]As the disease progresses, the heart can develop an abnormal rhythm and the heart muscle can weaken. The muscles used for breathing can weaken, causing inadequate breathing, particularly during sleep.

One of the funniest Gilbert clips.

His imitation of Jerry Seinfeld is dead on.

RIP Gilbert. You gave me some of my greatest laughs. The documentary noted above is a great watch. All about Gilbert. He was odd, but not his stage persona.

Thank you DL for all of the Gilbert clips and recs in this thread.

Another late in life marriage, kids

I hope Frank (Gilbert's cohost) continues the podcast---he's the better interviewer. Gilbert is mostly good at asking about anti-semitism and if anyone had good experiences with Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye, or Joey Bishop, or ever saw Milton Berl's endowment.

R100, Frank really was the one who researched the guests and managed the interviews.

Gilbert even admitted that he sometimes did not know who the guest was until shortly before the podcast commenced.

Old pics

Damn! I didn't see that coming. I didn't have him in the celebrity death pool. RIP

[quote] Sally Struthers referred to Rita Moreno as "Miss Coozeburger."

She did what??!??? LOL

Sally was hilarious. She clearly has no fucks left to give. I had no idea she’d be that funny and honest about the people she’d worked with.

Sally Struthers and Gilbert Part 1

Sally Struthers and Gilbert Part 2

His presenting an award with Carol Channing was memorable in a bizarre way. They had to go to a commercial when it seemed like Carol was going to get angry with him on-stage for his shenanigans.

He was on the Michael Strahan hosted Pyramid last year and looked and sounded terrible. Did the whole show in pajamas and a robe like they pulled him from his hospital bed. Sadly I wasn’t shocked when I saw the news he died

If you listen to that Sally Struthers episode from January, Gilbert sounds like he's got one foot in the grave already and Frank pretty much does all the work.

He had recently done a show in Toronto on March 26th. Must have been a sudden turn for the worse. I noticed the podcast had been really spacing out new episodes with reruns lately. Infact the last two episodes have been reruns.

R111, Two of the most recent podcasts were with Jack Jones and Michael Feinstein.

The recent Karena Longworth (You Must Remember This) episode was possibly the final new episode, unless there are some they've yet to release. He squeezed in all the standard questions and she was a good sport, though sometimes stumped by such non-sequiters as "did Joan Crawford really pee on David Niven's head?"

That must be from Spy’s “Party Poop” at R102.

It was more Frank’s podcast than Gil’s (and Frank is terrific) but Gilbert had hilarious moments in every episode.

I can’t believe we’ve heard the last holiday episode with Mario Cantone, because he and Gil are riotous together.

Is there anything funnier than Mario Cantone's post-stroke Bette Davis impression?

Gilbert Gottfried at Tony Curtis and Mario Cantone as Bette Davis sing "Baby It's Cold Outside."

I remember his podcast with Danny Bonaduce. You have to listen to this one folks to believe it.

Why did he always look like he was shitting his pants?

Easily, R27. He and Takei have given me so many laughs. I stopped listening to Stern a couple of years ago. He became boring as hell.

One of the funniest stories is when Gilbert was the opening act for the Go-Gos and they told him "The audience is full of young teens and their mothers, so please don't be inappropriate." And of course he went out there and was immediately telling inappropriate jokes.

On the old PBS show "In the Life" I thought he came out as gay.

Colbert...

One of the funniest stories is when director Amy Heckerling invited Gottfried to dinner. Her German (Jewish) nanny called into Howard to complain about Gilbert. If you have time, listen to the whole thing. Fucking hilarious

67? I thought he was older

Had the good fortune to see him perform and he was great. He did a silly but hilarious bit about having sandwiches with the Pope that had the audience roaring the punch line “whole wheat”! I know it doesn’t sound funny here but it was surreally sidesplitting at the time.

According to a posted message on the podcast Facebook page, there's one new unaired edition, a two-parter with Brenda Vaccaro later this month.

A decision will be made soon on the future of the podcast. Frank is taking some time off to mourn and regroup.

Loved how on his podcasts, Gil could never get through introducing the guest without butchering a few project titles.

And whenever he found an opportunity to veer off into a filthy story or a scandalous dead celebrity rumor, his energy would burst through my AirPods.

A hilarious guy.

If they continue with the podcast, they should bring in guest hosts for a while until they can find the proper replacement. I'm thinking along the lines of Jeff Ross, Mario Cantone, Richard Kind, Billy West, Dana Gould, Rupert Holmes and Craig Beirko. Maybe even Gilbert's close friends Gino Salamone or Drew Friedman.

We'll miss you, Gilbert.

Frank should just continue on his own. He's a good host and he did most of the work, anyway. The only time Gilbert was any good on it was when it was another comedian or Gilbert had a relationship with the guest. And that's no slam against Gilbert, it's just that he and Frank had their very specific roles.

Forgive me if this has already been posted - Gilbert roasts George Takei with "fag" jokes. I nearly fell out of my chair from laughing so hard the first time I saw this.

They should quickly make a biopic of Gottfried's life and title it "Too Soon".

[quote]Gilbert roasts George Takei with "fag" jokes.

So Gilbert was an asshole, then?

R138 = fag!

R138, evaluate the content before you label it.

That roast video was hilarious. He was not at all a homophobe.

Single till his 50’s

I can't imagine why, R142. He seems like he's have to fight the chicks off with a machete.

Gilbert's funeral was beautiful and hilarious.

Did Howard speak?

R145, Jeff Ross and Gilbert's wife spoke.

Howard wasn't even there.

Howard is awful to the people who gave him the best moments on his show and were there for him when he wasn't hobnobbing with the "cool kids" like Aniston and Clooney.

Howard is a piece of shit. I don't subscribe to Sirius anymore, but on the Reddit thread about him, people were saying that he barely gave any air time to Gilbert's death, rushing through it because they had to get to Amy Schumer. (If that doesn't say it all, I don't know what would.) Howard also claimed he didn't really know Gilbert all that well.

Gilbert was (IMO) the best guest Howard ever had on his show. He was consistently side-splitting and funnier than anything Howard or his writers could ever conjure up. But yes, you're right, this isn't the first time Howard has rewritten his history. He's a piece of shit.

I stopped listening to Howard about two years ago after listening since I was 14. Every day, I listened to him and then went cold turkey and didn't miss it at all.

Same here. I would tune in while driving, but it became less frequent after the fired Brent. Not because I liked Brent (he was a douchebag) but I loved listening to his slow implosion throughout 2019.

When the pandemic hit and I was no longer driving more than a day or two a week, I let my subscription lapse and have yet to renew it. I do, however, love to listen to old clips on YouTube, and in the past year or so, have devoured every Gilbert clip on there.

Anyone who hasn't heard Gilbert's appearances on Stern, do yourself a favor and seek them out. There are many and they are lengthy.

I'm so glad you posted that, R144. I tried posting it yesterday on here, but for some reason, DL would not let me. I thought maybe the site itself had some sort of block on it.

The memorial is lovely. Not a bad speaker in the house. Dara, Gilbert's wife, was very dear (and funny), Frank, his podcast co-host was terrific. Hell, even the Rabbi was funny. It was really nice to hear how loved Gilbert was.

R151, same, regarding the old clips. The Gilbert fight with Amy Heckerling's nanny, I listen to over and over again and it makes me laugh every time. That could never happen on the show now. Jackie/Fred or Stuttering John and Gary fighting. The show was just great. Now, it's forced.

Gilbert's fight with the nanny is what made me a Stern fan. I had never listened to the show before that because I grew up in Florida and was not familiar with him. I moved to NYC and one morning I called in sick to work and was in bed listening to the radio, flipping stations. I came across K-Rock and Gilbert was on (who I'd always loved). I have never laughed so hard. From then on, I listened to Stern nearly every morning for the next 20+ years.

Briefly had Howard 100 on our new car this winter.

I can’t believe how much time he still dedicates to discussing the whack pack. That stuff is so 1980s. He’s 68. It just doesn’t work anymore.

He does? There is barely a wack pack left. Either they've died or retired or Howard has disowned them because he's trying to be respectable. (Or like Sour Shoes, they're funnier than him and he can't have that.)

My thanks also, R144, for posting Gilbert’s funeral. I just watched Dara speak. I’ve been a fan of Gilbert’s for years, but never knew what Dara looked or sounded like. I felt bad for the kids having to sit up at the front in front of the congregation as their mother spoke. The daughter, in particular, looked like she wanted to be anywhere else. When Dara was done, Max (the son), asked his mother if he could say something. It wasn’t audible what he said. Dara said, no, that’s not appropriate, but he continued to plead with her. I’d love to know what he wanted to say.

I still can’t believe Gilbert is gone.

Yeah, I wish she hadn't brought the kids up there with her, only because the daughter looked so miserable. The boy is a little younger, so he doesn't yet understand everything your parents do is mortifying. But the daughter actually looked so annoyed that her mother would tell those embarrassing stories (even though they weren't that bad and everyone was charmed by them). I felt bad for her.

I think his son Max wanted to tell The Aristocrats joke.

[quote]The daughter, in particular, looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.

Anywhere other than her father’s funeral?

Gee, how odd.

It was just an expression. Calm down.

The daughter is lovely.

The son is going to be a handful.

The final week of his life, Gilbert was hospitalized and on life support.

Where did you hear that, R163?

Susie Essman mentioned in her eulogy at Gilbert's funeral that he had been on life support.

"Beloved Cunt" - and I mean that in the best way possible. RIP, Gilbert